Mercury
| Mercury | |
|---|---|
| |
| Mercury in Orbiter | |
| Designation | |
| Name | Mercury |
| Reference body | Sun |
| Number of satellites | 0 |
| Planetary mean orbits | |
| Epoch | J2000 (1 January 2000) |
| Semimajor axis (a) | 0.38709893 AU 5.790917567×107 km) |
| Eccentricity (e) | 0.20563069 |
| Inclination (i) | 7.00487° (0.122258 radian) |
| Longitude of the ascending node (LAN, ☊) | 48.33167° (0.8436468 radian) |
| Longitude of periapsis (ϖ) | 77.45645° (1.351870 radian) |
| Mean longitude (L) | 252.25084° (4.402608 radian) |
| Planetary orbital element centennial rates | |
| Semimajor axis (a) | 0.00000066 AU/Century |
| Eccentricity (e) | 0.00002527 Century-1 |
| Inclination (i) | -23.51 seconds/Century |
| Longitude of the ascending node (LAN, ☊) | -446.30 seconds/Century |
| Longitude of periapsis (ϖ) | 573.57 seconds/Century |
| Mean longitude (L) | 538101628.29 seconds/Century |
| Selected physical parameters | |
| Mean radius | 2440 km |
| Mass | 3.301880×1023 kg |
| Density | 5.427 g/cm3 |
| Sidereal rotation period | 1407.509 hours |
| Sidereal orbit period | 0.2408445 years |
| Magnitude V(1,0) | -0.42 |
| Geometric albedo | 0.106 |
| Equatorial gravity | 3.701 m/s2 |
| Escape velocity | 4.435 km/s |
| Rotation elements | |
| North pole right ascension (α1) | 280.99° |
| North pole declination (δ1) | 61.44° |
| Obliqutiy of ecliptic | 7.01° |
| Longitude of Sun's transit | 228.31° |
| Note | *Elements given are from Orbiter.pdf (2016) |
Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system and is the closest to the sun. Mercury is a rocky planet appearing much like the moon and has virtually no atmosphere (none is modeled in Orbiter), and has no natural satellites.
Mercury was visited in 1974 and 1975 by Mariner 10 in two flybys and was again visited by MESSENGER spacecraft orbiting Mercury from 2011 to 2015 when it was deorbited. There is a plan for the BepiColombo spacecraft to visit in 2025.
Orbital characteristics
Mercury is the innermost planet in the system with a semimajor axis of 5.79×107 km. But, the orbital eccentricity is the largest of all the planets, about 0.2056, its distance ranging from 46 million to almost 70 million km from the Sun, and the inclination of its orbit is just over 7°, also largest of all the planets.
Physical characteristics
Mercury's mean radius is 2440 km, smaller than Ganymede and Titan, but more massive at a bit more than 3.3×1023 kg.[1] Mercury is unique in the solar system in that it is tidally locked with the Sun in a 3:2 spin-orbit resonance; it rotates three times for each two orbits around the Sun, which means that one day on Mercury is two of its years.[1] It also has the smallest axial tilt with respect to its orbit, about 2 arcminutes.
Geological features
In Orbiter 2016, Mercury is modeled as a sphere with no elevations, but visually, it has approximately 300 features on Mercury have been included in the stock Orbiter 2016, albedo features as well as craters, ridges, plains, escarpments, valleys, and one mountain.
See Geology of Mercury.
Add-ons
- Mariner 10 - Historically the first probe to use gravitational assists and first probe to visit Mercury. It made three fly-by's of Mercury between November 1973 and March 1974, but did not enter orbit. This probe is modeled in Orbiter in an add-on made by user "missleman01": GEP - Mariner 10 [2]
- MESSENGER - Historically the first probe to enter orbit around Mercury. After three fly-by's between January 2008 and September 2009, it entered an highly elliptical orbit around Mercury on March 18th, 2011. This probe is modeled in Orbiter in several add-ons [3]
- Mercury level 7 topography and level 8 textures at Orbit Hangar
- Mercury Level 8 texture at Orbit Hangar
- Mercury Level 9 Textures at Orbit Hangar The texture was created using mosaics of the planet Mercury with pictures taken by the MESSENGER spacecraft in 2011
- Mercury Level 11 texture at Orbit Hangar
External links
- Mercury at Wikipedia
- Mariner 10 mission at Wikipedia
- MESSENGER mission at Wikipedia
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Orbiter.pdf (2016)
- ↑ GEP Mariner 10 at Orbit Hangar
- ↑ Messenger Probe Add-on at Orbit Hangar
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